Posted
I'd heard it before but still find it hilarious... Best one yet!

--------------------No stranger he; it was our eyes Which failed to see the stranger's guise/The Lord who, risen from the dead, met us when ready to be fed.Posts: 10049 | From: Hanging in the balance of the reality of man | Registered: Jun 2003
| IP: Logged

Posted
The thing is, the reason Nuns (or Priests, in a lot of these types of jokes) turn up as opposed to say Vicars or Rabbis is that they're the ones best known for taking a vow of celibacy accross the board. I mean if you substituted in a CofE vicar, they might have been married and so on, which takes all the humor out of it. So I don't think it is so much Anti-Catholic (and therefore not offensive to Catholics) as just a convenient way to have the joke. I mean "Four people who'd devoted their lives to God AND taken a vow of celibacy appeared at St. Peter's one day" doesn't reallly scan, now does it? Same thing with the priests and the purity test.

Posted
Finally, one I found funny! To be honest I'm not sure I would have found it any less funny using any group of women, celibate or not.

--------------------' You stay here and I'll go look for God, that won't be hard cos I know where he's not, and I will bring him back with me , then he'll listen , then he'll see' Richard ShindellPosts: 2603 | From: where the angels sleep | Registered: Mar 2004
| IP: Logged

Posted
The original version I heard involved four teenage girls in line at the confessional--it was actually funnier that way.

--------------------When you think of the long and gloomy history of man, you will find more hideous crimes have been committed in the name of obedience than have ever been committed in the name of rebellion. - C. P. SnowPosts: 6029 | From: PDX | Registered: May 2001
| IP: Logged

Posted
The original original, IMO, is about the 3 soldiers reporting sick. The MO asks each what he's suffering from, prescribes the treatment, and then, by way of social interaction, what his ambition is.

--------------------I know why God made the rhinoceros, it's because He couldn't see the rhinoceros, so He made the rhinoceros to be able to see it. (Clarice Lispector)Posts: 6344 | From: Amazon region, Brazil | Registered: Aug 2002
| IP: Logged

Posted
There are two elements of this joke that I found especially funny (and nuns would know them very well.) Notice how, when Peter asks if they've ever sinned, the only sins they mention are related to sex - though nuns are no less sinful than others, their sins are rarely sexual. So, the good Sisters do not mention anything except the 'one time' they were really bad.

Though this other aspect is more often used as justification by some of the celibate priests rather than the women, another tired old idea is that 'it does not count' if there was no intercourse. At the time, justified - later, one recognises the sin. Very typical of celibates. (And before anyone takes offence, I am one - as far as I know, the only vowed celibate here.)

The joke did not offend me in the least. I'd be embarrassed only to mention how many times I repeated it today.... it took some of the stress off after the catastrophe.

Posted
Funny, but resembles not the sainted old ladies I know who have devoted their lives to God...

--------------------If you board the wrong train, it is no use running along the corridor in the other direction Dietrich BonhoefferWriting is currently my hobby, not yet my profession.Posts: 30032 | From: White Hart Lane or Ambridge | Registered: Oct 2002
| IP: Logged

quote:Originally posted by Sir Kevin: Funny, but resembles not the sainted old ladies I know who have devoted their lives to God...

It does not resemble those whom I have known, either (young or old.) This is the sort of joke at which nuns would quietly laugh amongst themselves. It is all the funnier (in that limited circle, at least) because most nuns not only have been true to their vows of chastity but never had any intention of violating them.

I think that one of the reasons that jokes about nuns can be highly amusing is that there is a certain paradox within religious life. Many active Sisters, have had far above average exposure to much of the sordid in this world in the course of their ministries, yet maintain a certain innocence. There is a contrast between not being shocked by what would make others shudder (I'm not referring to sex - but to very sordid situations), yet being as naive as a child in other ways.

I entered at 25 - quite a bit older than the others. It always amused me when those who'd entered as teenagers spoke of how 'wild' they had been before then - I did not have the heart to tell them their lives had been about as wild as mine. Had one of the 'wild' ones confided that she'd looked at a man's penis, many of the others would have been astounded.